Governor Gretchen Whitmer said Monday she’s optimistic that Michigan won’t face a government shutdown as budget talks drag on.
Her comments came more than a month after the Legislature’s self-imposed July 1 deadline for a budget deal. The deadline with far more consequences for the state comes at the end of September, when the state’s fiscal year officially ends.
“We are not even close to the deadline yet,” Whitmer told reporters Monday after touring the Gerald R. Ford Academic Center in Grand Rapids. “We’re closer than I’d like to be already but there’s a lot of time left, and I can tell you we’re having a lot of meetings in Lansing.”
Whitmer said she believes a deal will be reached in time, though she said her administration will still be prepared in case a shutdown happens.
“I hate to say it, but you’ve always got to have that preparation,” Whitmer said.
Though the state is still more than a month away from a possible shutdown, the lack of a budget is already creating uncertainty for school districts, which are preparing to start the school year with no clear idea of how much money they’ll have.
Last month, some school officials held a press conference in Lansing to talk about the consequences of the delayed budget.
On Monday, the Grand Rapids Public Schools Board of Education said budget “uncertainty” has complicated negotiations with its teachers union over a new contract.
“During this time of funding uncertainty, we’ve made intentional reductions at the administrative level,” Superintendent Leadriane Roby said in a statement.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Whitmer said she wouldn’t consider the budget done without a deal to fund road repairs in the state, but she said she wouldn’t hold up school funding in order to get a deal on her priorities for roads.
“I’m just saying, to say that the budget’s done without a big piece of it getting done would be inaccurate,” Whitmer said of the road funding.
